Illas or mollos

Illas or mollos are small sculptures carved from a type of alabaster, known locally as “berenguela”, or the “Lake Titicaca stone”, after the region where it is quarried. They are used by the local Andean healers known as “yatiris”, in propitiatory rituals performed to honor Pachamama. Those carved in the shape of corn (Zea mays), or “sara” in Quechua, remind us of the importance of this crop in the development of Peruvian culture, as evidenced by their presence at Huaca Prieta, in La Libertad, a site dated to 5400 BC.
Corn is one of the fundamental ingredients of the Peruvian diet and it is consumed in a variety of ways across the country’s different regions, as corn on the cob, boiled or roasted.
During the Pre-Columbian period, corn crops were considered sacred, and at harvest time drops of corn beer were sprinkled on the ground as an offering to Pachamama. Intended to ensure a good crop, this custom is practiced to this day in many Andean communities.